1. Background to the water statistics program in Australia
David Skutenko
Assistant Director
Water Statistics Team

2. Outline of presentation
Economy, society, Climate & Geography
Policy Concerns
Institutional arrangements
Statistical infrastructure
Water Account Australia
Input collections
Production process
Results

3. Economy, society, climate & geography
Dry Climate

4. Monsoon rainfall in the north

5. Agriculture and population centres in the south

6. Economy, society, climate & geography
Key economic and population aggregates (2010)
Population 22,407,700
GDP A$1,283.8 billion
Agriculture 4 %
Industry 25 %
Services 71 %
GDP per Capita A$57,293 per capita
Mining 8.4% of total GVA
Manufacturing 9.3% of total GVA
Literacy 82%

7. Policy Concerns Water Security
Availability for Agriculture (food security)
Ecological sustainability
Energy security
Human consumption (quality, cost, quantity)
Productivity & regulation of the water supply industry
Water prices and return on assets
Future investment
Harmonisation of jurisdictional policies
National Water Initiative

8. Institutional Arrangements
Numerous agencies collecting & publishing water data
Jurisdictions
Commonwealth government
National Water Initiative
Provider burden and streamline initiatives
Administrative data – the panacea?
Takes time & effort
Data items not mapping exactly
May lack important detail or data splits

9. Statistical Infrastructure
Reportable data (metering & recording systems)
Register of survey units & Frame maintenance
Classification systems
International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC)
Product classification (or Industry Terminology?)
Survey Methodology – sample or census?
Statistical literacy and technological literacy
Understanding of the survey cycle
Data Quality Framework

10. Water Account Australia
Physical Supply and Use Tables
Corresponding monetary flows and implicit prices
Additional industry detail (i.e. Agriculture, Water Supply Industry)
National Accounts and water intensity measures
Gross Value of Irrigated Production

11. 12 Standard Tables of SEEA-Water
Physical supply
Physical use
Gross and net emissions (of pollution)
Emissions (of pollution) by Sewerage Industry (ISIC 37)
Hybrid (Monetary and Physical) supply
Hybrid use
Hybrid supply and use
Hybrid water supply and sewerage for own use
Government accounts for water related collective consumption services (Monetary)
National expenditure for waste management (Monetary)
Financial accounts for waste water management (Monetary)
Asset account (Physical)
Plus 12 Supplementary tables
ABS
ABS
BoM

12. Water account input collections
Data sources
AIC Survey (Mining & Manufacturing)
Agriculture Survey
Water Supply Survey
Electricity Generator Survey
Household surveys
Administrative data (including Annual reports)
National Performance Report (NWC)
State department agencies
NSW Benchmark Reports
Victoria Water Account
Queensland SWIM
WA Economic Regulation Authority
State agricultural agencies
BoM (rainfall data)

13. SUPPLY USE Agriculture Survey Annual Integrated Collection
Water Supply Survey
Administrative Data
Electricity Generator Survey
Administrative data

14. Supply and use table - Australia

15. Main findings
Water consumption down 25% since , from 18,767 GL to 14,101 GL
38% fall in agriculture – 12,191 GL to 7,589 GL
Large falls in cotton, rice, dairy pasture and sugar
Value of distributed water supplied is up nearly $2 billion (56%), from $3.5 billion to $5.5 billion
Household paying $927 million extra
Businesses paying $994 million extra
Average price of water nearly doubled from $0.40/kL to 0.78/kL
Household pay the highest average price $1.93/kL
Agriculture pays the lowest average price $0.12/kL

16. Main findings, cont.
Industry valued added per GL is up $41 million/GL or 76% from $54 million/GL to $95million/GL
Largest increase in IVA mining of $129 million/GL or 133% ($97 m to $226m /GL)
Agriculture up 77% from $2.2 million/GL to $3.9 million/GL
Agriculture industry consumed most water (50%) among industries, followed by Water supply industry (17%).
Gross value of irrigated agricultural production up 13% or $1.4 billion from $10.6 to $12 billion
GVIAP is 29% of the total gross value of agricultural production (almost unchanged since when it was 30%)
GVIAP peaked in at $12.5 billion and 35% of total gross value of Agriculture production

17. Summary Learning by doing Frameworks are a helpful guide
Focus on key policy/resource management issues
Bite sized chunks (at least initially)

18. Thank you – Questions?